Immigrant Father Is Fatally Shot Outside a Restaurant in Queens

An immigrant father of two who was playing cards in a Queens restaurant was fatally shot Monday night, an innocent victim of gunfire involving some dice players outside, the police said.

Joseph McDonald, 39, was playing poker in the back of R and I Jamaican Restaurant on the corner of Farmers Boulevard and 112th Avenue in St. Albans, Queens, when he heard gunshots outside the restaurant around 11 P.M. Monday, said his older brother, Winston McDonald, 41.

The police said that two men had approached the restaurant on bicycles and fired at three men who were rolling dice just outside the doorway.

The three dice players, Terrance Jackson, 25, Kenneth Gregory, 18, and Harry Alen, 29, ran through the restaurant toward the back door, knocking over chairs and tables along the way. All three were struck by gunfire, and one also died.

As the dice players fled, Mr. McDonald and his fellow card players, thinking the men running through the restaurant were the ones shooting at them, scrambled for the exits. Mr. McDonald, who lives just two blocks from the restaurant, ran out the side door toward his car, but was struck in the chest by a bullet, said Officer Valerie St. Rose, a police spokeswoman. He died at the scene. Mr. McDonald's murder was a case of mistaken identity, the police said.

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Joseph McDonald immigrated to New York from Kingston, Jamaica, 20 years ago. He was recently laid off from his job as an electronic technician, and was freelancing to make ends meet, his brother said. Yesterday afternoon, stunned family members gathered at his small apartment on 112th Avenue.

Mr. McDonald is survived by his wife, Arlene, 36, and his two children Tina, 12, and Theodore, 8.

"We grew up together in Jamaica as sweethearts," Mrs. McDonald said. "He was the prince and I was Cinderella. We were always going to be together."

His weeping brother said, "You get caught up in a situation you don't even belong in and you become the victim. Why did it have to be him?"

Of the other victims, Mr. Jackson was struck in an artery near the groin and was pronounced dead on arrival at Mary Immaculate Hospital, police said. Mr. Gregory was shot in the back, hand and leg and is listed in stable condition in the intensive care unit at Mary Immaculate. And Mr. Alen was shot twice in the buttocks and was released from the hospital yesterday morning.